PSSA Grade 6 English Language Arts Item Sampler

1 The Pennsylvania Systemof School AssessmentPennsylvania Department of Education Bureau of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction September 20212021** This is a revised version of the 2017 Item and Scoring Language arts Item and Scoring Sampler2021* Grade 6 PSSA Grade 6 English Language arts Item and Scoring Sampler September 2021iiTABLE OF CONTENTSINFORMATION ABOUT English Language arts ..1 Introduction ..1 General Introduction ..1 Pennsylvania Core Standards (PCS) ..1 What Is Included ..1 Purpose and Uses ..2 Item Format and Scoring Guidelines ..2 Testing Time and Mode of Testing Delivery for the PCS-Based PSSA.

2 3 English Language arts Grade 6 ..3 PSSA English Language arts Grade 6 ..4 English Language arts Test Directions for reading Passages and Questions ..4 Passage 1 ..6 Evidence-Based Selected-Response Question ..8 Multiple-Choice Questions ..10 Passage 2 ..12 Multiple-Choice Questions ..13 Passage 3 ..16 Text-Dependent Analysis Prompt ..20 Text-Dependent Analysis Scoring Guideline ..24 English Language arts Test Directions for Conventions of Standard English Questions ..42 Conventions of Standard English Multiple-Choice Questions ..43 English Language arts Sample Item Summary Data.

3 47 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..49 PSSA Grade 6 English Language arts Item and Scoring Sampler September 20211 INFORMATION ABOUT English Language ARTSINTRODUCTIONG eneral IntroductionThe Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) provides districts and schools with tools to assist in delivering focused instructional programs aligned with the Pennsylvania Core Standards (PCS) . These tools include Academic Standards, Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content documents, assessment handbooks, and content-based item and scoring samplers . This Item and Scoring Sampler is a useful tool for Pennsylvania educators in preparing local instructional programs by providing samples of test item types and scored student responses.

4 The item Sampler is not designed to be used as a pretest, a curriculum, or other benchmark for operational testing .This Item and Scoring Sampler is available in Braille format . For more information regarding Braille, call (717) 901-2238 .Pennsylvania Core Standards (PCS)This Sampler contains examples of test questions designed to assess the Pennsylvania Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content aligned to the Pennsylvania Core Standards . The Mathematics, reading , and Writing PSSA transitioned to PCS-based operational Mathematics and English Language arts assessments starting with the spring 2015 PSSA administration.

5 The PCS-aligned Assessment Anchors and Eligible Content documents are posted on this portal: [Hover over Data and Reporting, select Assessment and Accountability, and select PSSA-PA System of School Assessment . Then select Assessment Anchors/Eligible Content on the right side of the screen .]What Is IncludedThis Sampler contains stimulus reading passages with test questions, Conventions of Standard English questions, and a text-dependent analysis (TDA) prompt that have been written to align to the Assessment Anchors, which are based on the Pennsylvania Core Standards . The passages represent some of the genres approved by PDE to appear on an operational, PCS-based PSSA.

6 The test questions provide an idea of the types of items that may appear on an operational, PCS-based PSSA . Each sample test question has been through a rigorous review process to ensure alignment with the Assessment Anchors .Typically an item and scoring Sampler is released every year to provide students and educators with a resource to assist in delivering focused instructional programs aligned to the PCS . However, due to the cancellation of standardized testing in 2019 2020, the 2021 Item and Scoring Sampler is a revised version of the previously released 2017 Item and Scoring Sampler . This revised version ensures that students and educators have an enhanced item and scoring Sampler to use during instruction and/or preparation of students to take the PSSA Exam.

7 PSSA Grade 6 English Language arts Item and Scoring Sampler September 20212 INFORMATION ABOUT English Language ARTSP urpose and UsesThe items in this Sampler may be used1 as examples for creating assessment items at the classroom level . Classroom teachers may find it beneficial to have students respond to the text-dependent analysis prompt questions in this Sampler . Educators can then use the Sampler as a guide to score the responses either independently or together with colleagues within a school or district .Item Format and Scoring GuidelinesThe 2021 PCS-based PSSA has multiple types of test questions.

8 For Grade 6, the types of test questions are Multiple-Choice (MC) questions, Evidence-Based Selected-Response (EBSR) questions, and Text-Dependent Analysis (TDA) prompts .Multiple Choice: Each of this type of test question has four answer choices . Some MC test questions are based on a stimulus reading passage, while Conventions of Standard English MC test questions are independent of a passage . Each correct response to an MC test question is worth one point .Evidence-Based Selected-Response: Each two-part EBSR question is designed to elicit an evidence-based response from a student who has read either a literature or an information text passage.

9 In Part One, which is similar to an MC question, the student analyzes a passage and chooses the best answer from four answer choices . In Part Two, the student utilizes evidence from the passage to select one or more answers based on the response to Part One . Part Two is different from a multiple-choice question in that there may be more than four answer options and more than one correct answer . Each EBSR test question is worth either two or three points, and students can receive points for providing a correct response to Part One or for providing one or more correct responses in Part Two.

10 Text-Dependent Analysis Prompt: The TDA prompt is a text-dependent analysis prompt based on a passage or passage set that each student has read during the test event . There are three response pages in the paper-and-pencil format and up to 5,000 characters in the online format . Both literature and informational text passages are addressed through this item type . Students use explicit and implicit evidence to make inferences leading to a conclusion or generalization in response to the task stated in the prompt . Students construct a well-written analytical essay to communicate inferences and connection to the evidence using Grade -appropriate writing skills.